Dyson Debuts First Robot Vacuum Cleaner, the Eye 360

Dyson, the king of expensive vacuum cleaners, just announced its entry into the robot business, facing off against iRobot’s Roomba. But its founder, James Dyson, says he’s been working on it for 16 years.

“We probably decided to make a robot vacuum cleaner before [iRobot] did, but it’s taken us a lot longer,” he said in a recent interview about the Dyson 360 Eye, a camera-equipped, tank-treaded robot with a lithium-ion battery and one of Dyson’s signature digital vacuum motors.

So what took him so long? He says it takes efficient navigation, and a lot of suction that the competition just doesn’t have.

“Battery power is at a premium here, if you’re putting a lot of it into suction—which is what you need to do to get cleaning done,” he said.

When the 360 Eye begins its cleaning cycle, it takes a picture of its base station, then moves to what it thinks is the center of the room. As it moves, it shoots 30 frames per second from the top-mounted 360-degree camera, and analyzes every image, composing a real-time map of the room. It detects obstacles with the camera as well as infrared sensors located on the bottom of the machine. It moves in a squared-off spiral, taking care to just barely overlap its previous path.

The Dyson 360 Eye is the company's first robotic vacuum cleaner. It will sell first in Japan in early 2015, and will arrive in the U.S. by the following fall.

Dyson

“We’ve developed very efficient navigation. You mustn’t do the same bit twice. Anything random or done without great knowledge is wasting battery power,” he said, in a clear jab at the iRobot Roomba’s method of making multiple passes as it cleans.

Once it gets through a room, it can go on to the next, and repeat the process, provided it still has battery life left.

By contrast, iRobot uses its iAdapt system of software and sensors to make its way around the room, focusing on areas where it senses more dirt. Neato’s Botvacs use a scanning laser to make its way around a room.

The navigation is half of Dyson’s strategy. The other is a 200-watt V2 digital motor, similar to what’s at the core of the first-generation Dyson hand vacs.

The 360 Eye will have “more suction power than any other robot vacuum on the Japanese market,” the company said in a press release. Mr. Dyson noted that robovacs hold a world-leading 8 percent market share in Japan. Because of this—and the fact that Dysons sell very well in Japan—the 360 Eye will debut in that market in early 2015, for a price upwards of 100,000 Yen (about $1,000). It will appear in other countries, including the U.S., in fall 2015.

Mr. Dyson cautions that, on carpeted floors, the 360 Eye still can’t beat an “extremely powerful upright vacuum cleaner.” However, he says that its carbon-fiber bristle strip should have an anti-static effect that will help release dust from hard flooring in a way most uprights can’t.

The Dyson 360 Eye robot vacuum takes a picture of its charging dock every time it departs, so that it knows how to get back home again.

Dyson

Additional touches include tank treads for going over rough terrain—including shag carpet, which stymied all of the robots in our spring test—and a smartphone app, which engages the robot via Wi-Fi.

“You can get far more sophisticated controls on a smartphone app than you can do with buttons or dials or remote controls,” said Mr. Dyson. The Wi-Fi connectivity also allows for faster, more efficient troubleshooting in the event of a system failure.

Mr. Dyson told me that, for these reasons, other Dyson products would soon be connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi as well. “It’ll happen as the months roll by,” he said.

There are some possible downsides to the Dyson 360 Eye: It’s large, substantially taller than a Roomba, so it won’t fit under as many beds and couches. Though the company says its camera has been tested in various lighting conditions, we’ll have to test it to be sure that this optical method makes sense in darker rooms.

And while Mr. Dyson says that his robot can have shorter battery life because it’s more efficient, we’ll have to see what exactly it can do in the 29 minutes it can run on each charge. Look out for our review...in mid to late 2015.